/tg/ related books

>>43927115
Fritz Lieber (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series)
Michael Moorcock (Eternal Champion series)
Patricia A. McKillip (Riddlemaster of Hed trilogy)
Joe Haldeman (Forever War)
Robert E. Howard (Conan)

Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master by Raymond E. Feist
The Godfather by Marion Puzo
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scot Lynch
Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher
Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales by H.P. Lovecraft


Avoid:
Anything by Terry Goodkind
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

I'd give more details and will later if thread is still alive, but have to head to work four minutes ago. Sorry.

File: the_dark_tower.jpg (85KB, 500x440px) Image search: [Google]

85KB, 500x440px

>>43927115
im 90~ pages into the dark tower (first book of the 7) and its pretty good

>>43927211
Dark Tower is a love-hate relationship. The first few are amazing, and then it gets all esoteric and retarded with Stephen King literally writing himself in as a character. I found the more "modern" it became, the worse it got.

The ending is also a complete coin-flip, depending on who you talk to. Frankly, I love the ending, but I know a lot of people were breathing fire after reading it.

Discworld series by Terry Pratchet

Start with Mort, Equal Rites, or Guards! Guards!

>>43927115
EotW is a pretty good series, but it drops of pretty harshly after 3. If you finish it though, consider it an accomplishment, its pretty solid the whole way through.

Wizard's First Rule is pretty good too. Just the first one, my friends told me I'd know when it happened.....If you read it you'll know too. Just saying.

Dune. Arakis. Desert Planet. #1 ya git.

>>43927115

The mazlan book of the dead series by Stephen Erickson, read it. Seriously fucking read it.

Wheel of Time was okay but boring.

The inheritance trilogy was really good.

Rhapsody, only read the first book though.

Name of the wing is really good.

Also for ultimate /tg/, forgotten realms and Dragon lance.

I could go on for days.

File: fc,550x550,black.jpg (35KB, 550x550px) Image search: [Google]

35KB, 550x550px

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA

Hands down the best fantasy novel I've ever read. The following two in the series aregood, but not nearly as good as Lies.

>>43927302
I absolutely fucking hated reading Gardens of the Moon. Some of my friends recommended it to me, but it really just felt like bad Dungeons and Dragons fanfiction the whole time. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I think it was that literally every single character had some kind of super secret dark backstory.

It just seemed to play out as a snowflake dick measuring contest to me. I didn't mind the chapter with the young thief doing thiefy shit, but egghh. I doubt I could stomache another book.

>>43927285
I've always been intimidated by Discworld. There's just so many books, and I never know where to start. Is there any sort of canon or timeline I need to worry about?

>>43927340
>bad Dungeons and Dragons fanfiction

That's funny, because that's exactly what it is.

>Malazan background: the novels derive from RPG campaigns played out by myself and Ian (Cam) Esslemont over a number of years when we lived near each other or shared a flat while studying creative writing. The first games were AD&D but we quickly found the rules too mechanical and on occasion nonsensical, and moved onto GURPS, which better suited our gaming style of freewheeling, spontaneous narrative. I have an essay on the influence of RPG's on our fantasy fiction, which you can find at StevenErikson.com.

>>43927344
There are a few charts floating around on the internet if you search for "Discworld Reading Order." They mostly detail which books tie together. I intentionally listed a few starting points with different casts of characters.

I've always wanted to read Thieve's World, but I've never been able to find a copy. Is it good? Are there any other novels with the same basic premise? Like, fantasy thieves doing their thing?

>>43927277
well thanks for the insight man i am fairly new to reading so this might not be as much of a problem for me

>>43927519
No problem. It's such a crazy ride that I think everyone should read them, even if they don't like them. King is a beast. Dark Tower was so ahead of the curve.

>>43927177
I've always found myself in the minority that actually enjoyed some of the ideas, and the world presented in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series (never read Law of Nines, though it's sitting on my bookshelf, or the chaos one).

I also enjoy Robert E. Howard, Orson Scott Card, and most recently Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series.

Donald Tyson, Alhazred the author of the Necronomicon

I really enjoyed Glenn Cooks Tyramny of the Night, I also hear great stuff about The Black Company series

File: Untitled.png (1MB, 657x881px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 657x881px

>>43927115
The back of the DnD e5 player manual has an inspirational reading list which isn't half bad

>>43927340

The first book is pretty mediocre. But if you finish it and keep moving forward you're treated to one of the most ambitious and frankly insane fantasy narratives ever published. The Chain of Dogs arc remains my favorite story plot of all time. It was beautifully written, the military strategy it presented was brilliant and sound, and the entire ordeal felt like getting punched in the stomach over and over again.

There are a lot of threads on /tg/ about military fantasy, I'm surprised Coltain doesn't get brought up more often as a source of inspiration.

>>43927115
I seriously recommend getting one of the Witcher short story collections from Andrzej Sapkowski.
They should be fairly cheap, and if they are to your liking his Witcher and Hussite War sagas are really well written.

>>43927289

So far:
1 > 2 > 4 > 5 > 3

Overall: comfy/10

Also this list is pretty good. It's fantasy canon according to Sapkowski - author of the Witcher series. If you haven't read it yet I'd also recommend that.

http://www.listchallenges.com/canon-of-fantasy-literature-according-to

If you think robert jordan's good I've got bad news for you son

he's got 999 pages but there's no good ones

File: Jack_L_Chalker.jpg (123KB, 800x1051px) Image search: [Google]

123KB, 800x1051px

C. S. Friedman – the Coldfire and Magister trilogies for fantasy, also In conquest Born and The Madness Season for sci-fi
Tad Williams – Memory, Sorrow and Thorn , also Shadowmarch
Karen Miller – The Godspeaker, Trilogy, Rogue Agent and The Tarnished Crown
Jack L. Chalker – the Well World series, the Four Lords of the Diamond, the Dancing Gods, the Soul Rider, the Rings of the Masters, the Changewinds – all his series are like the bastard offspring of /tg/ & /d/

What were the books called about that berzerker Nine fingers guy. Those were good, and always ended like real life ends. Plus Bayaz was the ultimate Mage .

>>43927344
Read in release order. There are numbers on the books for a reason. If you don't like the way a book is going, read the synopsis on wikipedia, and move onto the next one.

Thinking about getting either gardens of the moon or dune to read this winter break. I'm kinda leaning towards dune but I've heard a lot about the Malaga books that sounds really good

File: 1447356323029.jpg (74KB, 682x1024px) Image search: [Google]

74KB, 682x1024px

>>43927302
worst taste on tg right now

legit bad post

>>43927115
Read the greeks first.

Game of Thrones

>>43928292

This so fucking much. Any time I talk a friend into getting into the Malazan series, I always make them take a vow to finish Deadhouse Gates before forming an opinion. GotM can feel a bit emotionally detached in comparison, while Deadhouse Gates brings the humanity to the forefront, for better or worse.

>opinions

I loved Gardens of the Moon, and while many characters do feel "Mary Sue"-ish due to complicated, shadowy backstories, it all pays off immensely later. Characters that feel Mary Sue-ish are revealed to be tragic (usually) and not one single character I've encountered is devoid of flaws - even if I hate a character in one book, two books later they've got me in tears (Felisin). I've currently got a family member listening to Gardens of the Moon on her commute, and the few times I'm in the car listening I'm seriously impressed at the amount of foreshadowing and setup that Erikson's done, and I've only just finished House of Chains (book 4 of 10).

But unfortunately even I know that Malazan is seriously polarizing. Most people have an inherent distrust of the author they're reading, and Erikson requires that trust to be intact in order to fully enjoy the books. Malazan also requires enormous amounts of patience, which for many people who read fantasy novels just for some light entertainment or escapism (not that this in and of itself is a bad thing), does not cultivate an amenable mindset for this series.

Not to push anyone away from the series, I'm just saying I can understand the detractors, but overall this series is criminally underrated and, most importantly, Malazan has provided me countless inspiration for my games, be it characters, plot, world-building, or just HOW to run the games as a GM.

Also, some other recommendations:
Seconding anyone that says Glen Cook, Black Company is excellent.
China Mieville, ignoring the political pandering.
William Gibson
Neal Stephenson

>>43927115
Blood Meridian.

File: The_lord_and_the_colonel_by_abiogenisis-d6zpyow.jpg (401KB, 750x844px) Image search: [Google]

401KB, 750x844px

HYPERION
Y
P
E
R
I
O
N

File: wpgBnR2.png (48KB, 781x803px) Image search: [Google]

48KB, 781x803px

>>43937746
show is pretty good. I avoid the reddit tier hardcore fans though

File: 200px-Shardik_cover_1974.jpg (16KB, 200x309px) Image search: [Google]

16KB, 200x309px

I'm almost finished with Shardik by Richard Adams and it's fuckin' great.

Ultra low-fantasy, roughly bronze-age tech, explores the effects of religion on individuals and society (both good and bad), and has a very flawed but relatable protagonist. Trust me, Game of Thrones ain't got shit on this.

>>43929825
Underrated post here.

>>43932796
The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. His side stories to it are all pretty good too, The Red Country was my favorite.

>>43937746
This man has terrible taste and I advise everyone here to stay away from it.

File: tg wasn't always this jaded, especially about dragons.png (736KB, 1480x5096px) Image search: [Google]

736KB, 1480x5096px

Just finished making this related image earlier today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Oe7Q8OCm5I

This may be an odd request, but does anyone know of a decent novel that features a woman wizard? I know of WoT, but around book 9 I wanted to drink from the bottles under the sink. That's when I figured I was done with the series.

File: superlative.jpg (331KB, 517x768px) Image search: [Google]

331KB, 517x768px

>>43927302
>The inheritance trilogy was really good.

China Miéville has interesting books, worth a read.
For the obligatory Herbert recommendation, I'm gonna suggest Destination Void, and The Jesus Incident

>>43927340
The best parts are when they do roadwork and manage to fuck shit up while doing it

>>43927177

Ah, I've been looking at the Lies of Locke Lamora. It good?

I've also heard Name of the Wind bandied about and have heard people say its good... but people seem to act like its too good, which is making me a little suspicious. Overrated?

>>43942273
I liked Name of the Wind.
Terry Goodkind is garbage.

>>43942774
Agreed. The Sword of Truth series is probably the worst pile of puerile self-aggrandizement in the history of 'literature'.

The protagonist has the mind and capabolity of a retarded 7 year old. His girl is really just a powerful object. She has no value beyond her ability to fuck and entrap men. Dentana anyone?

Weak writing. Cliche. And proves why gronads are perpetually alone.

>>43927115
Look up /tg/ Book Review on Desustorage. They're useful.

>>43927344
>I've always been intimidated by Discworld. There's just so many books
What, are you worried they're going to gang up on you?

File: Lord Juss.jpg (48KB, 512x582px) Image search: [Google]

48KB, 512x582px

>>43927115
Start with the shit that inspired all those fantasy authors everyone's recommending you.

No, not the Greeks. Although they're great too. The Worm Ouroboros.

Also Earthsea.

The Stars my Destination/ TIger Tiger for how to do a proper rogueish sci-fi character.

Demolished man just because goddamn goddamn.

Beyond that anything by Ballard as its great for exploring world building and also how to portray a descent into madness.

>>43927340
The Malazan books should be read for the worldbuilding.
If you go in for anything else, the Mary Sue-ness of certain characters and the endless philosophizing about everything under the sun will get you down.

File: the-discworld-reading-order-guide-20.jpg (579KB, 1000x1795px) Image search: [Google]

579KB, 1000x1795px

>>43927344
There is a timeline, but you don't really need to mind it.
I'd recommend Guards! Guards! as a starting point. If you like it, either continue the Watch books or branch off into the other strngs

>>43942273
>... but people seem to act like its too good, which is making me a little suspicious. Overrated?
Locke is a bit of a Mary Sue. Whether you can deal with it will make or break the series for you.
Personally I've had enough after the first book.

File: DresdenFiles.jpg (84KB, 500x625px) Image search: [Google]

84KB, 500x625px

>>43927115
>Pic fucking related.

>>43944816

Good call, it only goes worse from thereon.

The author is a cucк and it shows... oh god it shows in the third book. Locke stops short from prepping the bull for Sabetha.

The second one isn't so bad but without the twins, the book lost part of the charm. For me the suspension of disbelief is shattered every time I remember that in those societies women are not protected and are in the army/navy etc.

That said I'll probably read it until the end. It's not great but it's enjoyable.

>>43927159

Speaking of Michael Moorcock,

I've wanted to read the Elric saga to get my own impressions of it, but I'm entirely baffled as where to start. Lists of the series get really vague as to what is a novel and what is a "novella", and what is a short story. Are the Elric novels actual novels, or short story collections? If they aren't short story collections, where does one get the short stories? And where the hell does one start? Is there a chart for this?

>>43927302
>The inheritance trilogy was really good.
I found it to be full of overwrought purple prose and has characters who blatantly spout out the author's beliefs way too often....but it WAS written by a teenager, so I should probably make allowances for him being an idiot.

>>43932796
The First Law series.
Say one thing about Logan Ninefingers, say that the series he's in is pretty good.

>>43946344

No one should have published that poor kids stuff. They should have patted him on the back, told him to keep writing, and wait until after college.

>>43946400
His ideas aren't bad per say (fairly generic fantasy but decently executed) and his writing is pretty good from a technical standpoint, he just lacked intellectual maturity I think.

But there's some authors who never get full intellectual maturity even when they turn 50, like Goodkind and Jordan.
I find it hard to believe Jordan was married because apparently he wrote women as completely unknowable alien beings incapable of being understood and were hugely irrational and who WOULDN'T STOP TUGGING THEIR FUCKING BRAIDS.
Also yet another example of an author just getting rock-hard and slapping his dick all over the keyboard to let his incredibly obviously and unsubtle fetishes become major and recurring plot elements, which is extremely tiresome.

At least George Martin's apparent fetish is food, which he writes more words about then anything else in his novels.

>>43946479

I thought that too until the fifth book.

Then I noticed a couple of things.

1. He writes from the perspective of boys - Mat, Perrin and Rand all are envious of each others skills with women. They don't understand women (for whatever reason) hence mystical
2. The women are obnoxious (especially Nynaeve) on purpose - this is only visible in book 4 where it's presented as a character flaw and Nyneave gets shafted for that
3. They're living in a culture that pretty much demonizes men

Don't get me wrong the fucking ticks are annoying, the characters are pretty much flat. But I don't think he has any bias towards either sex.

I also though too that BLAH BLAH womyn are so great men are DUMB, then I noticed that while it's written by the narrator, the narrator is a person not someone objective.

So far I like the series... as a guilty pleasure. It reminds me of times where I was snugly wrapped in blankets reading the Narnia books and drinking cocoa. And I think it's written for the same audience as the Narnia books, and that doesn't have to be a bad thing.

>>43944869

I don't understand this. I was promised an overpowered wizard and all I get is some guy who bumbles maybe 2 spells per book and then lets his friends do all his work for him. I've read five of these things and they have mostly disappointed me. I also get pretty upset at how infallible and perfect all the girl characters are. Murphy should just be the main character and let that be the end of it.

>>43946712
Go read his Conan novels.
It's not the perspective of young boys; it's just him and his fetishes and novels.

Aside from braid-tugging (which is there aplenty), there's mind control, bondage, rape, monster sex, female submission, female domination that turns into submission, monster rape, more mind control and female bondage, and lots and lots and lots and lots of spanking.

Yes this is when he was younger, but at least he isn't dressing up his fetishes in something pretending to be higher-grade fantasy in them, especially since pretty much everything in his WoT books shows up in his Conan novels at some point and is a lot less pretentious about it.

Whatever Jordan's many flaws were as a writer, they DID include writing women terribly and having difficultly not writing his fetishes into the overall plot of his books.

>>43947064
/tg/ is a shitty fucking place to get novel synopses because the series isn't about being an overpowered wizard at all.
It's basically a 100% full of cliches film noir detective series with violence and sex and an underdog gumshoe hero, only all dressed up in magic and shit.

It's what it was written as, what it was advertised as, and how it plays out, but /tg/ always latches onto the DUMBEST shit in a novel series and talks about it in all the wrong ways about all the wrong stuff.
I don't even particularly LIKE the Dresden novels and somehow I'm more aware of this then /tg/ is, I swear to god.

>>43927719
>I also hear great stuff about The Black Company series
The first book is a must-read in my opinion; great gritty low fantasy without being edgy.
2-3 are great, anything afterwards is still very good but will drag if you're not invested in the characters.

>>43927389
>AD&D too Mechanical
>So we moved on to GURPS

Nothing aginst GURPS but isn't that like that like saying Alaska was too hot so we moved to Death Valley?

>>43947073

Heh I couldn't imagine Jordan writing anything like Conan, he seems more of a kiddy writer then anything.

You might be right in his analysis of fetishes but I was replying mostly to "completely unknowable alien beings incapable of being understood and were hugely irrational".

Moiraine, Min, Elayne, none of the Aiel women, every female Forsaken and dark character don't follow this.

Maybe he overuses some cliches and focuses on his fetishes too much but I definitely don't agree with your assessment about all women characters.

So there's a dieselpunk series that I see recommended in every related thread but I've forgotten its name. Could someone help me out please?

>>43947108

I have to say I generally enjoy the Dresden Files as quick stupid reads, and I think you really got it.

They're best if you treat them like a noir detective novel with the brakes removed, and expect them to run as such.

Plus, the writer is good at goofy. I like Dresden Files but I found Butcher's Alera fantasy series to be a massive letdown.